The Living Wage
Members may be aware that there was a conference held during the week, organised by Minister for State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Ged Nash T.D. calling for a voluntary agreement from employer companies to commit towards paying an hourly rate of €11.50, a figure termed “the living wage”.
The very concept of such a rate, devised by non-employer bodies such as a trade union and their associated think-tanks is fatally flawed. Childcare and housing makes up almost 60% of these calculations, yet not everyone has children nor is the cost of housing the same for every worker. The State has done little to reduce these costs and it is not for employers to bear the cost of these public policy failures.
We, as employers, need to be mindful that there is a strong, well-resourced campaign being put in place to clamour for the introduction of the living wage, initially voluntary but ultimately mandatory for certain sectors of the workforce.
